Hungary’s New Habsburg Descendant Ambassador To The Vatican Presents Credentials To Pope Francis

Ferenc Sullivan 2015.12.08.

Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen, Hungary’s new ambassador to the Holy See, has presented his credentials to Pope Francis, the deputy head of mission at the Hungarian embassy said.

Mr. Habsburg-Lothringen had an 18-minute private conversation with Pope Francis, which is considered unusually long by the standards of Vatican protocol. The new ambassador noted that Hungary’s commitment to Christian values is set out in the country’s constitution and he briefed the pope on the government’s family policies and measures aimed at the social inclusion of the Roma community. The diplomat quoted the pope as saying that he “has not forgotten” about his invitation to Hungary. Habsburg-Lothringen also had talks with Archbishop Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state. The ambassador and the cardinal discussed various global political issues, such as the migrant crisis and the Hungarian government’s response to it. Habsburg-Lothringen also presented his credentials to the Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Mr. Habsburg-Lothringen was born in Munich, Gerany, in 1967. He is the former director of communications of the diocese of Sankt Pölten and the great-great-great grandson of the late Austro-Hungarian emperor and Hungarian king Franz Joseph I and his wife, Queen Elizabeth. The diplomat, who currently lives in the Austrian capital Vienna and goes by the full name Eduard Karl Joseph Michael Marcus Koloman Volkhold Maria Habsburg-Lothringen, has been studying the Hungarian language intensively for the last year, according to earlier reports.